The judging panel of the IULTCS Research Commission (IUR) has announced the third recipient of its Young Leather Scientist grant. This monetary award, sponsored by the Lear Corporation, helps support the work of young talent in the leather sector.

The winner of the €1,500 grant is Santiago Ortiz-Monsalve from the Lacouro laboratory for research on leather and the environment in Porto Alegre, Brazil, which is part of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul’s chemical engineering department.

The International Union of Leather Technologists’ and Chemists’ Societies (IULTCS) said on announcing the award that Mr Ortiz-Monsalve’s research topic is “an area of great practical interest for the leather industry”. It covers the use of native fungal strains to treat tannery effluent containing dye. His proposal is that fungal organisms have the potential to decolourise and detoxify dye-containing effluents.

This work could contribute to the development of “important technologies for the treatment of some of the more recalcitrant wastewaters from the leather industry”, IULTCS said. Santiago Ortiz-Monsalve, a PhD student, has previous publications on this subject.

On announcing the award of the third Young Leather Scientist grant, Dr Luis Zugno, the IUR chair, said: “This year we have received a larger number of innovative research topics and the quality of the applications has also improved.” This indicates the growing importance and interest in this grant. The selection committee is chaired by Dr Michael Meyer who oversees the independence, confidentiality and integrity of the selection process.

The next Young Leather Scientist Award will be in 2018 and will again be sponsored by the Lear Corporation. IULTCS will begin to share information about how interested parties can apply for the grant in the early part of 2017.